I have installed a fresh copy of PCSX2 0.9.6 (official download) and am using SCPH-70012 BIOS (not certain if this matches my hardware PS2 BIOS). I'm running Windows 7 and Windows XP on separate machines. The XP machine appears to run without a problem, but it's got inferior hardware and everything is averaging about 8fps. The 7 machine is giving me some trouble...

Every time I load PCSX2, it tells me it needs configured. Regardless of what configuring I do when PCSX2 comes up, when I click OK I get the message "Could Not Load GS Plugin 'plugins': <NULL>". Then I am returned to the configuration screen, where all my configuration will be lost. So I reconfigure the video, sound and my controller again. PCSX2 appears to load as it should, but when I click to open an ISO, twice it says "Failed Loading MemoryCard from file: memcards\Mcd001.ps2", and then "_cdvdOpenNVM: Error creating bios\SCPH-70012_BIOS_V12_USA_200.NVM". Then the program exits with no further message.

Could someone clue me into what these messages are telling me to do different? Thanks!

I no longer get harassed by the lost configuration, but when I try to open an ISO, the game screen comes up, and never leaves "black", until I finally give up and force it closed. I'm testing with Final Fantasy XII and Mortal Kombat Deception, which both work on the XP box. I'm using Linuz ISO driver 0.8.0, ZeroSPU2 r514 Dev 0.4.6 with sound output disabled, and I've tried all three GSdx 890 (MSVC 15.00 SSE_) drivers as well as ZeroGS 0.97.1. I've played some with the config options and haven't been able to get a game intro.

DirectX determined I had a newer or equivalent version, I assume from where the original PCSX2 install sent me to download DX... I grabbed the 1650 revision of GSdx, tried it again, and FFIX works. Getting about 20 FPS vs 8 FPS on the XP machine, so much better now. Next I'll play with configuration and see if I can't bump it a little higher.

Thanks for the nudges in the right direction. Your help is most appreciated!